Key Insights

• Show's Popularity: Heated Rivalry has gained significant attention as a groundbreaking gay love story.
• Emmy Eligibility: The series is only eligible for the International Emmy competition due to its foreign production status.
• Streaming Success: It became Crave’s most-watched original series and HBO Max’s top debut since 2019.
• Future Appearances: Despite its success, the cast will not compete at the Primetime Emmys this year.

Heated Rivalry is one of the most buzzed-about TV miniseries in recent years, a true phenomenon that has crossed over beyond what anyone might have thought possible for a gay love story.

So, it’s natural to start thinking about the show’s Primetime Emmy potential. Let’s see, there could be acting nominations chatter about Hudson Williams (who plays Canadian Shane Hollander) and Connor Storie (who plays Russian Ilya Rozanov). And there could be nods in music categories for the show’s lead composer Peter Peter and/or the many artists who contributed songs to the miniseries.

We might as well call a halt to all this conjecture right here, because the program won’t be eligible for the Primetime Emmys. A spokesperson for the Television Academy chose to deliver the good news first: “Heated Rivalry is eligible to enter an Emmy competition. But because it is solely produced by a foreign production company, it is only eligible to enter the International Emmy competition, held by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, not the Television Academy’s Emmy competition. Per the Television Academy’s rules, foreign television production is ineligible in the Television Academy’s Emmy competition unless it is the result of a co-production (both financially and creatively) between U.S. and foreign partners, which precedes the start of production.”

Heated Rivalry is a Canadian series created, written and directed by Jacob Tierney for Crave. The first season premiered online on Crave on Nov. 28 and was picked up for streaming on HBO Max in selected territories; Neon in New Zealand; and Movistar Plus+ in Spain.

Heated Rivalry became Crave’s most-watched original series to date and HBO Max’s top debut for an acquired, non-animated title since the platform’s launch in 2019. Williams and Storie may be asked to present on the Primetime Emmys (as they did on the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes) but they won’t be in the running this year, nor will their program.